North Korea rejects latest US denuclearization timeline, report says

Posted on : 2018-08-10 17:02 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Washington demands a transfer of 60-70 percent of warheads within 6-8 months
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (left) greets North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Singapore on Aug. 4. (AFP)
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (left) greets North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Singapore on Aug. 4. (AFP)

North Korea rejected a suggested US denuclearization timetable for the transfer of 60–70 percent of nuclear warheads within six to eight months, according to a recent report.

The Aug. 8 report on the US news site Vox quoted two individuals familiar with the details of the situation.

According to the Vox report, the US made a proposal to North Korea for the transfer of 60 to 70 percent or more or nuclear warheads within six to eight months, with the warheads to be secured by the US or a third country for removal from North Korea. The timetable was reportedly suggested over the past two months by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, but was repeatedly rejected by a North Korean team led by Workers’ Party of Korea vice chairman Kim Yong-chol.

The report also said it was “unclear what concessions, if any, the US would offer in exchange beyond sanctions relief or removing North Korea from the state sponsors of terrorism list.”

But with no way of knowing the exact size of the North’s nuclear arsenal, the transfer of “60 to 70 percent or more” of weapons would be impossible to verify even if the North had agreed to Pompeo’s proposal, Vox observed. For that reason, the report suggested Pompeo’s main goal may have been to get North Korea to officially disclose the current state of its nuclear arsenal.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

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